A Friend in Steam Paperback – 384 pages. Author W. Elgar Dickinson.

ISBN 978-1-85794-290-3

This is one of those rare railway books written by an author who was not a ‘servant’ of the railway, as the author quaintly puts it. Elgar had a passion for the railway from a very early age and progressed from mere train spotting with the Ian Allan ABC to the more esoteric delights of railway photography and the technical problems that come with it. Every effort was made to record the daily workings of the railway via carefully arranged holidays, school trips and the odd part-time job. The book reads more like a novel than just another book on trains. The scope is vast, covering more or less the entire U.K. from the early 40’s through to the end of steam. How Elgar has managed to recall such a vast amount of trivial data and memories from the last 60 years is astounding, as no mention is made of a daily diary. Surely he must have had one. For lovers of railway ‘nitty gritty’ and an insight into some of the darker corners of railway operation this book with keep you absorbed for hours.

Price: £9.99. A Silver Link Book – The Nostalgia Collection.

Colin Usher